Cattle guard foe railways



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. 0. BURNBTT. CATTLE GUARD FOR RAILWAYS.

No. 594,148. Patented Nov. 23,1897.

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.0.BURNETT. CA GUARD FOR RAILWAYS.

NQ. 594,148. Patented Nov. 23. 1897.

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FQ C; BURNETT. CATTLE GUARD PoR RAILWAYS.

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FRANK C. BURNETT, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS.

CATTLE-G UARD FOR RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 594,148, dated November23, 1897.

Application filed August 28, 1 896. Serial No. 604,148. (No model.)

To O/,ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I', FRANK C. BURNETT, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Joliet, in the county of Will and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCattle-Guards for Railways, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, and theletters.

of reference thereon, forming a part of this specification, in which-Figure l is a plan of the cattle-guard as it would appear in service;Fig. 2, an end elevation of the same and a sectional elevation of therailway-track and road-bed; Fig. 3, a plan of the cattle-guard, showinga modified arrangement of the slats thereof; Fig. 4, a detailedperspective of the center guardframe and of a portion of the guard-slatsattached thereto; Fig. 5, a plan of one end portion of one of the sideguards; Fig. 6, an end elevation of the same; Figs. 7 and S, detailedperspectives of the slat spreading and securing blocks of the guard, andFig. 9 a similar view of one of the guard-slats.

This invention relates to certain improvements in cattle-guards forrailway constructions; and it consists of frames constructed and adaptedto be removably placed at crossings along a railwaytrack, between, andrelatively at the sides of, the rails of the track, ofobliquely-arranged slats detachably attached to said frames, and offrame-securing sills adapted to be placed crosswise of the track andimmediatelyunder the rails thereof, which improvements are fully setforth and explained in the following specification, and pointed out inthe claims.

The object of this invention is to provide a cheap, effectual, portablecattle-guard, one adapted to be easily and quickly cleaned or repaired,and adapted to be placed at any crossing of a railway-track independentof the track-ties without the removal of the ties and without previouspreparatory construction of the track-bed; and a further object is toprovide a guard with slats thereof so arranged as to render it diicultfor the passage of animals and convenient for the passage of man.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, A A represent the railway-rails,and B the cross-ties to which the rails are attached in the usualmanner.

C represents the cross-sills of the guard, these being two or more innumber and of wood, which are placed in the road-bed between eross-tiesand immediately under the rails in such manner as to be a distance apartequal to the length of the guard-frames and so as to project at eachside of the railwaytrack sufficiently to provide a support for the sidesections of the guard.

.D represents the center guard-frame, which is made of wooden railssuitably framed together and is rectangular in form, comprising in itsconstruction two end rails, two side rails, and one center longitudinalrail, as shown more particularly in Fig. 4, thus forming what I term adouble frame, and D represents the side guard-framesof like material andlength as frame D, but of less width and devoid of a center rail, thusforming what I term the single frames.

Attached by meansofbolts to the upper side of the rails of'theguard-frames are a series of angular wooden blocks E,arranged at regularintervals, and bolted to the sides of said blocks are a series of woodenguard-slats F, arranged edgewise obliquely to the framerails and also tothe railway-track rails and at regular equidistant intervals, asrepresented, and of sufficient number to cover the entire surface offrames D and D', excepting at the corners abreast the sides of saidslats, where triangularblooks G are bolted to the frames to lill suchspaces, and thereby avoid the use ofl extremely short slats F thereat.

Said blocks E, I have termed the slat spreading and securing blocks ofthe guard. In the event of attaching a double set of slats F to thecenterguard-frame D, as shown in Fig. l, L-shaped blocks E are employed,bolted to the frame center rail, and each side block has bolted theretotwo opposite pairs of slats, F, as represented; but in the event of buta single set of slats F being attached to said center guard-frame theformer type of blocks E are employed, bolted to the center rail thereof,to which the slats F are bolted, as represented in Fig. 3.

In Figs. l, 2, 3, and 4 I have represented the said slat spreading andsecuring blocks stationed so that said slats are bolted thereto IOO inpairs, a single bolt being placed at each block through holes of anadjoining pair of the slats and the block, thus leaving free spacesabove the frame-rails between said blocks; but, however, if it isdesired to more firmly confine the ends of said slats to render themless liable to split where their securing-bolts are placed, due to sidepressure brought to bear against them, other similar blocks, one type ofwhich I have represented at II in Figs. 5 and 6, may be bolted to theframe-railsat the intervening spaces between said former spreading andslat securing blocks, and thus give support to both sides of each endpart of each slat F. The guardframes thus constructed are placed, thecenter or double frame-guard between the rails of the railway-track, andthe single frameguards one at each side of said track, with each end ofsaid frames resting upon a crosssill C, previously placed across therailway road-bed immediately under the rails A A and between the ties B,and detachably secured to said cross-sills by means of bolts J, whichmay be passed through any convenient portion of the guard-frames, butwhich I have shown as being passed up through the corner-blocks G, wherethe bolt-nuts will be easy of access. In thus placing the sills andguard-frames it will be noted that neither the said sills nor frames areattached to either the cross-ties or railway-rails, and by reason of thesaid sills being placed directly upon the road-bed the guard cannot sinkor move endwise without the removal of said road-bed and ties, andcannot move sidewise by reason of the guard-frames rising above the angeof the railway-track rails. Hence it will be understood that the guardmay be permanently placed and not attached to either the railwaycross-ties or track rails.

In instances during the service of the guards when dirt or othersubstance has drifted or otherwise lodged about the guards and betweenthe slats thereof the nuts of securingbolts J may be removed and theguard-frames lifted from their sills, the said accumulated substancecleaned away, and the frames again placed, thereby rendering itconvenient and inexpensive to maintain the guards in a cleanserviceablecondition; also in the event of a broken slat F its end-securing boltsmay be easily and quickly removed and a new slat placed and secured byagain inserting said bolts, and thus it may be readily understood inwhat manner the guards may be maintained in perfect serviceablecondition; and, further, by the oblique arrangement of the guard-slats Fwith relation to the railwaytrack railsanimals in attempting to crosswill find a more diflicult undertaking7 owing to a more uncertainfooting, than at a guard where the slats or bars are parallel or atright angle with the railway-track rails, whereas, owing to the form ofmans foot, the oblique arrangement of the guard-slats presents a morefavorable footing than either longitudinally-parallel or cross-guardslats or bars, for the reason that the oblique arrangement presents afooting for mans foot at any portion of the guard-surface. Hence no careneed be exercised as to the exact place thev foot is planted, while inthe latter instances one must exercise great care to properly step oneither a cross or a longitudinal slat or bar. Therefore it will beobserved that the oblique arrangement of the guard-slats materiallybenefits the guard and produces new and favorable results over the usuallongitudinal or cross arrangement of the slats or bars.

In service the usual guard-panels and fencing are placed in conjunctionwith the cattleguard, as represented in Figs. l and 2, so that animalsmay not enter the inclosure along the sides of a railway-track withoutpassing over the cattle-guard.

I have specified the guard as being made of wood; but, if so desired, itmay be made of metal conforming to the same substantial form asdescribed, or may be made partly of wood and partly of metal.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful, anddesire tov secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

l. The herein-described cattle-guard consisting of the cross-sills; theframes removably attached to said sills; the slat spreading and securingblocks, and the triangular corner-blocks attached to said frames; andthe obliquely-arran ged guard-slats detachabl y attached to saidspreading and securing blocks, substantially as set forth. i

2. In the herein-described cattle-guard the frames D D', the slatspreading and securing blocks, and triangular corner-blocks attached tosaid fram es; the obliquely-arran ged guardslats attached to saidspreading and securing blocks, and the intervening Slat-supportingblocks I'I attached to said frames, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 26th day ofAugust, 1896, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK o. BURNETT.

In presence of HARLOW F. WILSON, T. BURNETT.

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